Think Like a Freak by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven Levitt

Subject and Section
Professor
Date
Title
1 What is game theory?
Game theory entails betting one's opponent by predicting his move (Levitt and Dubner 71).
2 How do the stories of King Solomon and David Lee Roth illustrate examples of game theory? How did the successful use of game theory affect the reputation of both King Solomon and David Lee Roth?
King Solomon deceived the women by playing as if he did not know that the birth mother would instead let go of her child rather than see the child die. Solomon anticipated the reactions of the women, thereby distinguishing who is innocent and guilty. On the other hand, David Lee Roth marked the "brown M&M's" as an indicator that the local promotor understood the safety procedures for Van Halen's gigantic show. The band specifically stated not to place any brown M&M's, and because it was a minute detail and easy to miss, Roth decided that it the best indicator if the local promoter has read all of the safety procedures. The cleverness of these two people made them known as the great players of the game theory by "thinking simply (Levitt and Dubner 70-71)."
3 In this chapter, the authors mention a pooling equilibrium and a separating equilibrium. What are these? Provide an example for each type of equilibrium.
Pooling equilibrium is composed of a group in which all the stakeholders are present, and the separating equilibrium is where the odd man out is categorized. In this chapter, the pooling equilibrium is composed of the liars and cheaters who have the same response: to weed itself by showing one's guilty behavior to a given stimulus while the innocent and unexploited minds tend to have a unique response (Levitt and Dubner 71).
4 What does it mean to "teach your garden to weed itself?"
The garden is a metaphor for a person who lies and that the interrogator must lead this person to fall to his lies. To do this, the interrogator must anticipate the liar's answers to formulate the right questions that will lead to the downfall of the liar to his own guilty behavior (Levitt and Dubner 71).
5 How does the story of Adam and Ralf illustrate the principle of teaching your garden to weed itself?
The story is about the dispute between the two where R...